The research is a longitudinal study of women and their husbands at four time points surrounding the birth of the couples' first children: 3 months and 1 month prepartum. Couples will be stratified by class (2) and the level (3) of their preparation for the birth event. The principal dependent variables will be the quality of the conjugal relationship, and the quality of family relationships involving the infant (mother's, father's, couple's). It is hypothesized from a pilot study (N equals 279 mothers) (1) that psychological aspects of the actual birth experience are strongly affected by the prior amount of preparation and (2) that the childbirth experience mediates much of the affective tone of the new mother's relationship with her infant. In- depth interviews and use of a number of standardized instruments will also permit detailed study of many other variables, for example, the interrelationship of anxiety to wife's perception of husband-as-father at various time points, the relation between the husband's early life experiences and his attitudes toward himself-as-father, and the like. There is presently almost no information available on how coping with the first great "family crisis"--arrival of the first child--affects family functioning and stability; or how it affects fathers. Causal modeling will be used on data where appropriate. The undersigned agrees to accept responsibility for the scientific and technical conduct of the project and for provision of required progress reports if a grant is awarded as the result of this application.